Learn To Recount Your Imagination In Spanish

They say, imagination is the cheapest luxury one can afford. What few realize is that it can also be one of the most effective tool for learning Spanish. Whenever we deconstruct a sentence, we essentially break down an overwhelming behemoth of a sentence into tiny, easily understandable fragments that our minds instantly assimilate. The sentence that we are going to break down here has nothing grand about it but would prove immensely helpful if you ever try relating an account of your dreams and ambitions which in turn would build your Spanish, bit by bit. You see, imagination is also often the cheapest language teacher!

Imagine buying this Jag and write about it in Spanish!
Photo credit: Martin Pettitt licensed CC BY 2.0

If asked to let our imagination run unchecked without an agenda, most of us are most likely to imagine being capable of achieving or having already achieved what would otherwise be incredibly difficult in prevailing reality. Today’s sentence (given below along with its meaning in English which is, obviously, not very literal) should enable you to at least start giving words to such day-dreams in Spanish.

Cuando gano la lotería voy a comprarme un Jaguar y contratar a un chafirete que me lleve por todos lados. (When I win the lottery I’m going to buy myself a Jaguar and hire a driver to take me all over the place.)

The nuts and bolts

Let’s begin the dissection of this awefully long sentence:

Cuando – This is the Spanish word meaning “when” in a non-question sense. Place an accent-mark over the “a” and it becomes cuándo, a question.

gano – The Spanish verb, ganar means “to win” and when conjugated in the present indicative form for the singular first person, it turns into gano. So, this word essentially stands for “I win” (don’t forget that the subject pronoun is often omitted in Spanish and solely implied by the context). Not sure if ganar shares its etymology with the English word, “to gain” because other than sounding similar they are also quite close in their meanings. Anyways, the similarity should still be enough to help you remember the word and recall it painlessly.

la lotería – This one is a no-brainer. The English word, “lottery” becomes lotería in Spanish and the -a ending makes it a feminine noun which brings in the la.

voy a comprarme – Ir is the Spanish for “to go” and its singular first person conjugation in the present tense makes it voy. Thus, voy essentially stands for “I go” or “I am going”. The next word, Comprar is the Spanish for “to buy” and using the preposition, a (to) to link it with ir gives it the sense of someone “going to buy”. So, voy a comprar would mean “I am going to buy” just like vamos a comer would mean “we are going to eat”. So, what is the me doing attached to comprar? It is called a reflexive pronoun. Never mind the grammar; just remember that it gives comprar the sense of “buying for myself” just as comprarte would mean “to buy for yourself”. So, in short, voy a comprarme means “I am going to buy myself”.

un Jaguar – A Jag. Here we are talking about a ridiculously expensive brand of car. Dying to take one for a spin, aren’t you?

y – This is probably the simplest word of this sentence; it’s the Spanish for “and”.

contratar – The English verb, “to contract” can also be used in the sense of employing something or someone on contract or, in other words, “to hire”. Now, this verb shares its etymology with the Spanish word, contratar. This relationship should ensure you don’t forget the word easily.

a un chafirete – In Spanish, it’s a grammatical mandate to always introduce an object with an a if it happens to be a person or something personified, e.g., a pet, etc. So the word, a here introduces an object for the verb, contratar. But what, or rather who, is this object? Un chafirete is a Mexican slang for a driver. It should help to know that both chfirete of Spanish and chauffeur of French share a common origin.

que – Remember how we use the word, “that” to link clauses and ideas in English? We use que for the same purpose in Spanish though the usage is not exactly similar always. In this context, que stands for “to” in the same way it does when used after tener. So, just like tengo que ir means, “I have to go,” contratar que trabajar would mean “to hire to work.”

me lleve – So what is the verb que intends to introduce here? The Spanish verb, llevar means “to carry” in English. In this context, however, it is used in the sense of “taking someone around.” In Spanish, when you are not sure of an event’s certainty, you conjugate the verb in a slightly different fashion. The singular third person present indicative conjugation of llevar would normally be lleva. However, since we are only imagining and not sure of whether this is ever going to happen in reality, we conjugate it as lleve. Spanish grammar calls this the subjunctive form. And you must have already guessed that the word, me gives it a reflexive twist. So, me lleve would essentially mean, “he or she would carry me”; note the use of “would” in English to give it a sense of uncertainty.

por – Usually por would mean “at” or even “for” but avoid taking the meaning literally at all cost. Nothing can screw up your Spanish more. In this context, it carries the sense of “around” as in por aquí (around here).

todos lados – Lado is the Spanish for “side” but can also carry the sense of “place” depending on the context. In this context, it clearly means “place”. Todo means “all” and because lados is plural, todo becomes todos. So, todos lados stands for “all sides” or, figuratively, “all over the place”.

String’em together

Now let’s bring these pieces together. The phrase, Cuando gano la lotería means “When I win the lottery,” in the following sentence structure: Conditional word (“when”) - subject (omitted here) - verb (here, present indicative of “to win”) - object (here, “the lottery”)

The next portion, voy a comprarme un Jaguar means “I’m going to buy myself a Jaguar,” in the following order: subject (omitted here) - verb1 (here, present indicative of “to go”) - preposition (here, “to”) - verb2 (here, “to buy myself” in its infinitive, reflexive form) - object (here, “a Jaguar”)

The next piece, y contratar a un chafirete means “and hire a driver,” in the following structure: Conjunction (here, “and”) - verb (here, infinitive form of “to hire”) - object connector (here, a with no English equivalent) - object (here, “a driver”)

And the last phrase, que me lleve por todos lados means “to take me around all over the place,” in this order: Preposition (here, “to”) - object pronoun (here, “me”) - verb (here, subjunctive present indicative of “to carry”) - preposition (here, “around”) - object (here, “all sides” or “all over the place”)

Do note that unless the verb is in its raw infinitive form, any object pronoun must come before the verb (e.g., Me llamo Pedro); otherwise, it is just attached to the verb (e.g., Quiero verte).

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A Novel And A Movie To Teach You Mexican Spanish

Como agua para chocolate is a very commonly heard expression in some Spanish-speaking countries, particularly Mexico, and was the inspiration behind the title of a novel by the much-celebrated Mexican screenwriter, Laura Esquivel. Mexico is the birthplace of chocolate; in many Latin American countries (and of course, in Mexico as well) hot chocolate is a staple traditionally made by melting chocolate over a pot of boiling water and the phrase, como agua para chocolate alludes to this fact. It can be used as a metaphor for describing a state of intense feelings which could be anything from sexual arousal to maddening anger.

Como Agua Para Chocolate
Photo credit: colegiouniversitariodeperiodismo
licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

A rare success

The story’s title draws on Tita, the main character in the novel, who conveys her state of boiling fury with a statement, “Estoy como agua para chocolate.” The unusual success of this book in 1989 led to an even bigger success in the form of a movie in 1992 and when the film opened in the United States with English subtitles, it easily became one of the most popular foreign films in American history.

The film also garnered immense critical acclaim partly because it came out in the 90s when works of previously ignored minority female writers had just started attracting their due share of limelight due to the newly emerging ideas of multiculturalism in literature. As a testimony to its success, the film bagged each of the 11 Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures and became highest grossing film to be ever released in the United States until then. There’s no denying the fact that this film is a masterpiece worth every connoisseur’s collection and the powerful storytelling transcends all language and cultural barriers.

A tragic tale of intense passion

Como Agua Para Chocolate is a very simple yet moving story of the strong family values and traditions that underscore Mexico’s cultural heritage. The story revolves around the life of Tita De La Garza, the protagonist, who is forbidden to marry because of a family tradition but is still involved with Pedro Muzquiz, her novio (boyfriend). A chain of comic events ensues after, one day, Pedro and his father visit with Tita’s family to discuss their marriage and her mom refuses and offers her elder daughter, Rosaura instead. Pedro, counting on being closer to Tita as a member of her family, accepts the liaison; this decision naturally devastates Tita who bakes her sister’s wedding cake with much crying and longing. Tita’s tears magically stir nostalgic emotions in all those who eat the cake. Later, Tita’s father dies after knowing that his wife had cheated on him some time in the past.

A year down the line, Tita prepares a meal of rose petals laced with her passion and feelings for her love in an attempt to win him back from her sister. However, instead of Pedro, it is Gertrudis who ends up having the meal and Tita’s heat and passion along with it. As an effect of the spell, she is overcome with lust while taking a shower and runs off naked in the arms of a revolutionary soldier. Rosaura is shown to have given birth to a baby boy who, for some reason, only Tita is able to nurse. Tita’s mom suspects Tita’s foulplay in this and sends Rosaura and Pedro away to San Antonio. In some time, the baby dies due to lack of Tita’s nursing and Tita becomes sick and catatonic.

At this stage, Tita is taken to Texas by one Dr. John Brown for treatment and recuperation. Eventually, Tita and Dr. Brown develop a relationship and decide to get married. Meanwhile back home, her mother is killed by the revolutionaries and Pedro and Rosaura return for the funeral. Soon after, Rosaura gives birth to a baby girl, Esperanza. Dr. Brown is called away and finally Tita and Pedro end up sleeping together.

Twenty years later, Rosaura is shown to have died of severe digestive problems and Pedro and Tita as reunited. Tragicaly, though, Pedro dies during an intense love-making session with his beloved and Tita too, burns to death along with the entire ranch. In the end, Esperanza returns to the site only to find Tita’s cookbook that told of her recipes and love for Pedro.

What’s it it for me?

For someone learning Spanish, this film offers every ingradient for immersive learning. Engaging beyond doubt, the story sucks you in regardless of which genre you like watching. It also helps to know that the film has reasonable helpings of Mexican colloquialism that will help you further your knowledge of this flavor of Spanish.

A glimpse of history also accompanies the experience and you get to see the Mexico during the Revolution. Personally I haven’t come across a better example of magical realism in any language till today. The characters in the film are set against the backdrop of the most powerful episode in Mexican history, the Mexican Revolution that ended in 1917.

The story develops at a peaceful yet interesting pace and you will find this movie relatively easier to understand even if you don’t necessarily catch every sentence being spoken. Besides, the visuals of Ciudad Acuna, Piedras Negras, and the Eagle Pass are simply priceless. The movie gets you up, close, and personal with the Mexican lifestyle in ways few storytellers do.

Maximize your benefits

As we keep harping all the time, you cannot watch a random movie once in a while and expect some miracle to bake Spanish in you. That’s not how it works. Absorbing a language takes persistence. And repititions. Yes, you must watch the movie so many times that most major dialogs, if not all, become nursery rhymes for you. You should be able to watch a scene and blurt out the line that the character is about to utter next. That is when you can claim to be saturated with all the Spanish the movie had to deliver. This might take a dozen reps or maybe even a hundred depending on your mental faculties. But saturate you will.

And no English subtitles please. You’ll kill the essence of the original lines because translations often don’t convey the original sense with the same conviction. You’ll not only miss out on the true emotions being conveyed by the original Spanish dialogs but will also delay your absorption of Spanish thus defeating the whole purpose you began with! If Mel Gibson could make Apocalypto in an extinct language and still manage success, we are sure language barrier cannot be a genuine excuse for falling back on English subtitles.

Another thing that can greatly help with novel-based movies like this one is reading the novel before the movie. You can read the novel in English if you wish but Spanish would obviously be a wiser choice. Don’t hesitate reading the book several times over before you watch the movie for the first time. This will only help further reinforce the Spanish you acquired while reading the novel.

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Some Costa Rican Words For Your Private Organs

Regardless of who you are and how you are learning Spanish, one of the first things that strike you as irresistibly interesting is the glossary of naughty words. There are known to be countless learners, quite unsurprisingly, who have researched and assimilated the vulgar and taboo vocabulary even before they learn how to say, “¡Buenos días!” in Spanish! Even some us might as well be one of them. And this is only human; anything forbidden charms us more. Going against the grain is human nature, more so when it comes to acquiring a language. And Spanish has on offer an extremely rich glossary when it comes to vulgarism!

A word of caution

Tiquísmo is as rich as any other form of Spanish
Photo credit: Luis Tamayo licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

While we hope we don’t wind up offending anyone, you are requested to understand that what follows is extremely crude lingo and certain words, if not all, can potentially make us sound extremely unsophisticated to you. We respect your taste and advise you to skip the rest of this article if such vulgar language offends your classy taste.

If you choose to proceed, we am hoping you read it all in the sportiest of spirits and take them as an essential aspect of street Spanish which you must be able to recognize even if you choose never to use them. Also, we strongly urge you to refrain from using them in your speech no matter how well-versed you become with Spanish. Just know them and recognize them when someone is using them. And have fun!

What follows is a list of words most prevalent in common tico (Costan Rican) speech for some of the most intimate parts of the human anatomy. While all of them might not be equally offensive or even offensive at all, it is best to discuss each of these words with a Costa Rican native and understand the gravity of its meaning before deciding on whether or not you should introduce it into your conversations. Even if a word is not particularly offensive, it can still potentially make you sound funny and even wreck your image if used incorrectly.

By the way, the word, tico, is a Costa Rican slang for anything Costa Rican and tiquísmo is the word for the colloquial tico speech or dialect. This article should also serve to illustrate that Spanish is a diverse language and has more dialects than just American and Peninsular.

Penis and testicles


Banano – Literally, this word stands for “banana”, the fruit and is not particularly vulgar


Chile – This one, again, is’t too vulgar and literally stands for “chili”


Chorizo – Literally, pork sausage; hope you can see the connotation


Cojones – A crude word for “balls” or “testicles”


Garrote – Literally, this word means “club” and figuratively stands for a “big penis”


Guaba – This one is quite vulgar


Huevos – Literally this is the Spanish for “eggs” and, by extension, also come to mean “testicles” in the vulgar lingo. For the same reason, tener huevos means, “to have balls or guts or courage” not different from the way it’s spoken in English


Leche – Again, officially this word means “milk” but can also stand for “semen” if used in a naughty way


Pene – This one is probably the only sophisticated way to refer to the organ in question as prescribed by Spanish dictionaries


Picha – This is another dirty word for the organ


Pinga – This one is quite vulgar and unsophisticated


Pistol – Officially, this word means the same in both English and Spanish but the Spanish version also refers to the private organ in honor of its shooting capabilities


Pito – This word literally means “whistle” in English and is not terribly offensive


Rosca –This one’s another vulgar term used in Costa Rica


Vena –This is yet another, equally vulgar word often heard in Costa Rican speech


Verga – Again, this one is also a vulgar term from Costa Rica

Vagina


Arepa – In colombia, this is the name of a local corn pancake but in Costa Rica, it can also mean you-know-what


Bicho – This would normally mean “insect” elsewhere except in Nicaragua where it has vulgar undertones


Cachimba – Used for the private female organ in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, this word is also often used as a colloquial interjection in the sense of “fantastic” or “terrific”


Concha – Officially, this is the Spanish for a “sea shell” but most locals prefer it to mean what-can’t-be-named-here


Endija – This one a particularly offensive Costa Rican slang


Mico – This is one more vulgar term often heard in Costa Rican speech


Panocha or panocho – This is yet another dirty word


Papaya – Now, this one’s not too offensive and can be used in regular speech as a mild insult which won’t be taken seriously (of course, not in formal speech!)


Rendija – If you follow the dictionary, this one stands for a narrow slit or opening, for instance, between planks in a wall; the resemblance it bears with the female organ is the reason why it’s also often used in a much dirtier sense


Zanja – Literally, this word means “ditch” but colloquially you know what it also means

Breasts

Busto – This one sounds too similar to the English word, “bust” to mean anything but that


Pechuga – Literally, this stands for the very delicious “chicken breast” and is not a great compliment for a woman

Senos – This is the only politically correct way to refer to them

Tenís – Literally, this one’s the Spanish for “tennis” or a “tennis ball” and is exceptionally vulgar when used as the word for breasts


Teresas – This is another vulgar slang heard everywhere in Costa Rica


Tetas – This is the official, dictionary-endorsed term for “tits”


Tetuda or tetona – These are not-too-vulgar words for “big breasts”

Butt


Ano – This one sounds too similar to the English word, “anus” and hence means the same


Anillo – Literally, this is the Spanish for “ring” but in Costa Rica it means something totally different


Chanchos – Officially, this one means “pigs” but is also a tico slang for “buttocks”


Culo – This is an unsophisticated term for the organ under discussion considered as vulgar in Costa Rica as it is elsewhere


Culantro – This is a Costa Rican play on the word, cilantro (coriander)


Gluteos – This is an unoffensive word for that organ


Hueco del culo – This one is a vulgar Costa Rican slang for one’s “ass”


Nalgas – This is the dictionary-prescribed Spanish for “buttocks”


Trasero – Literally, this one stands for the “rear end”

Tener buen culículum – This expression, a typical example of tiquísmo, is a play on the word, “curriculum” or “résumé”; it essentially means, “to have a good butt,” in reference to a woman’s shapely rear.

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How To Watch Spanish Movies For maximum Benefit

If you wish to fight, you need to practice; reading about techniques alone won’t help. Similarly, reading about easy Spanish learning techniques alone is not going to make you speak or understand natural Spanish ever. Even if you can read Spanish perfectly well, you’ll most likely have a square, cookie-cutter accent if the only input you received was the one from those studio-recorded DVDs and tapes off expensive language courses. This is where Spanish language cinema step in to the rescue. They give you an input of Spanish the way it is meant to be spoken in real, with real accent and real pace by real Spanish speakers!

How movies help

Movies give you the context for new vocabulary
Photo credit: gregpoo licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

If the only reason you ever decide to watch a Spanish flick, do make sure that you pick a title that you enjoy – really enjoy – enough to watch even a million times even if only to make fun of the story or direction. Good or bad is irrelevant as long as it has the potential to engage you. Because you are going to watch it a zillion times so as to absorb the last drop of Spanish it has to offer. Even if you start with subtitles – which, needless to say, must be in Spanish – you must repeat the movie enough number of times to be able to watch it comfortable without any subtitles and without sacrificing on understanding any frame. Let’s see what you gain from this most entertaining form of learning Spanish:

Fluency – Spanish movies not only load with tons of new conversational idioms and phrases, but also give you the ever-important context helping you understand their essense more closely. If you have the propensity for talking to yourself and chanting catchy lines from the movies like many do, you can start sounding pretty convincing pretty soon.

Vocabulary – Must we illustrate what you stand to gain after listening to the same set of words a few thousand times over? Despite no conscious effort on your part, you tend to absorb an incredible amount of Spanish vocabulary out of these repeat sessions, not to mention the fact that the words you acquire are of the best quality as far as practical Spanish is concerned.

Grammar – The spookiest beast of all that has driven countless Spanish learners into quitting their programs prematurely! The context provided by the movie and the insane number of reps work together in cementing some of the most complicated of grammatical concepts into your minds, thus helping you speak with near-native fluency and confidence when the time comes.

Conversational context – After watching the same sequence of events so many times over, you have acquired situational images that easily relate with your newly absorbed words, phrases, and grammar. You’ll easily recall that a barretta means a crowbar if you remember that scene where someone is trying to pry open a trunk and yells, “Pásame la barretta.” And what dictionary or phrasebook would give you the Spanish for “crowbar” anyways?

You don’t need a colossal collection before you start

Even one movie can work wonders with your conversational skills in Spanish. We can bet you’ll sound much more confident and natural in your speech if you employ what you absorbed from just one movie in your next conversation than if you had spent all that time listening to some computer program playing a studio recording of, “Me llamo Anita, ¿como estás?” You have heard Spanish the way it’s meant to be spoken in reality, at a realistic pace, with realistic intonations. Nothing can ever reinforce your Spanish better than this.

Other than this reinforcement, movies are also rich in tons of colloquial phrases and constructs that are skipped by most formal courses and textbooks. No matter what language you learn, you cannot expect to be taken seriously with your conversational skills if you speak the language strictly as mandated by the books. Slangs and colloquialisms are an essential aspect of any natural language and Spanish is no exception. And there’s no richer source of these than Spanish cinema. The amount of street Spanish you assimilate from even a single movie is worth every rep it takes. Not only because you learn the slang, but also the ready-made context that gives you a better sense of what it means and how and when it is meant to be used. Needless to say, the memorable visuals make remembering them a breeze.

Resources

There are enough number of websites that can give you a reasonable load of news and trivia on Spanish showbiz. We would suggest that you bookmark these sites if you wish to keep up with the latest goings on in the world of Hispanic cinema.

Buscacine – A Spanish-language search engine solely dedicated to movies

Zinema – A rich presentation of the news and notes from the world of Hispanic cinema

Cinegaños – A Spanish-language film portal edited simultaneously in Barcelona and Mexico City; great for unbiased reviews

Como Hacer Cine – A wholesome portal with a wide array of articles, news, and reviews from the Spanish showbiz

Do note, however, that each of the above-listed sites is in Spanish and practicing your reading skills will go a long way helping you understand what they have to say. While you can always translate the entire page using Google Translate®, you will not be helping your learning program much in doing so. Translation always kills the essence of the original content.

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Google Images – The Best Dictionary The World Can Afford?

Not sure about you but quite a few successful polyglots have spent a shameful amount of time hunting for the perfect Spanish dictionary before finally stumbling upon one right under their nose. Before we even start with any details here, let’s break this to you – traditional Spanish-English-Spanish dictionaries are all often full of incorrect information and are perhaps your biggest enemy if you are using them to just expand your Spanish vocabulary memorizing words off them. Well, before the likes of Oxford® and Collins® go all out suing us, let’s elaborate and ensure anyone learning Spanish stays indebted to us for life!

Why do traditional dictionaries suck?

Are you using your dictionary the wrong way?
Photo credit: Horia Varlan licensed CC BY 2.0

Before we start with our dictionary-bashing, an illustration of the problem statement is in order. Once upon a time, I set myself to the task of labeling every mueble (piece of furniture) in my household with its Spanish name in an attempt to absorb some Spanish. This was a part of a bigger exercise aimed at weaving more Spanish around me in order to build a totally immersive environment. So, I started with sillas (chairs) and went on to mesas (tables), ropero (closet), armario (cupboard), and so on.

As I went on labeling every mueble in my apartment, I reached my shoe-rack. Now, this is an interesting piece of furniture which doesn’t always have an equivalent in every culture and, by extension, language. For example, Hindi doesn’t have any word to identify this object nor does any other language spoken in the Indian-subcontinent.

So, I started off with a good amount of skepticism when I looked up the word on SpanishDict. Ok, this didn’t disappoint me and gave me zapatera as the Spanish equivalent. But the cynic in me refused to take the word on face-value and decided to dig deeper. I performed what is commonly known as a reverse-lookup on the Spanish word and that’s where all the confusion started. SpanishDict translated zapatera into a “female shoe-maker” and an irrelevant “olive spoiled in the pickle”. Now, if zapatera were truly the Spanish for “shoe-rack”, that’s what it should have shown as at least one of the meanings but it showed, instead, everything but. So is zapatera really the Spanish for a “shoe-rack”?

I had a similar confusion with my dresser, the one with a mirror flattering the narcissist in me. Also called a vanity, this one is often mistaken by most dictionaries for a chest of drawers with no mirror whatsoever. SpanishDict, for one, gave cómoda as the closest word for “dresser” in the sense of a “vanity”; while a reverse-lookup of cómoda simply gave “chest of drawers” with no hint of a morror. When I looked up “vanity”, on the other hand, one of the words it threw was tocador in the sense of a “dressing-table”. So, what is it? Tocador? Or cómoda?

So do they really suck?

Do you see where all of this is headed? Perhaps, the only conclusion from that little life-experience with Spanish is that traditional dictionaries must not be relied upon for any word-to-word translation as the results are sometimes ambiguous at best. However, before you decide to give away those expensive dictionaries you bought yourself before you started learning Spanish, stay assured you they are way more useful than recognized, only for a slightly different purpose.

Remember, how we once advised against learning Spanish words in isolation and, instead, using phrases and sentences to build the ever-important context? Well, not sure if you ever wondered where to find such sentences for your flashcard decks but here’s the answer anyways: Dictionaries. Yes, we do see the irony here. The very resource that sucks when it comes to finding words turns useful when it comes to sentences! Well, if you notice, every entry in a dictionary (most of them), has at least one sentence or phrase as an illustration of the meanings provided. Those sentences are most often the best ones in terms of flashcard-worthiness and must be mined regularly as long as you are learning Spanish. What makes them so useful is the fact that they meet every criteria of a flashcard-worthy sentence; they are short, they illustrate a key vocabulary item, they illustrate a key grammar construct, and they are simple. These features mean that the sentences found as illustrations in most traditional dictionaries are of the highest quality and must find a spot in your deck of flashcards.

The best dictionary was always right there before your eyes!

The best dictionary was always right there!

We are sorry for the little detour above but still hope it was worth your time anyways. Now coming back to where we left my muebles, I was still confused about a few items, most notably, the shoe-rack and the vanity. So, just before I decided to give up in favor of waiting for some local speaker to clarify things for me, I decided to use a highly unlikely resource – Google Images®! It was totally out of instinct but the results were nothing short of a “Eureka!”

What I did was pretty simple though. I looked up each of the Spanish words thrown by SpanishDict in Google Images in hopes that the images returned would give some hint of what the word essentially means regardless of its precise English translation according to the dictionaries. So, zapatera returned pages after pages of shoe-racks in all shapes, sizes, colors, and forms, and without much further deliberation went into the Post-It® on my shoe-rack. Similar exercises with cómoda and tocador revealed that while cómoda is the bureau without any mirror, also called, “dresser”, it’s tocador that the label on my vanity should read.

Suddenly life seemed so easy! While Google Images® might not be terribly useful when it comes to words of action or any non-noun for that matter, it is incredibly accurate when it comes to names of objects. The best thing is that instead of giving you an English word as the meaning (which is the worst way to use a dictionary, by the way), it gives you pictures that illustrate what the word being looked up stands for. It is this quality that makes Google Images® your ideal picture book and dictionary while learning Spanish or any language. Just make sure you use more specific top-level domain for better accuracy. So, since we are dealing with Spanish here, it’s better to use the edition specific to Spain, Mexico, or any other Spanish-speaking country instead of the generic one.

Try this radical new use of Google Images® and let our community know if your experiences have been as enriching as mine was. We are glad that the solution to the problem nagging me the most was right under my nose all the while. This is, in fact, often the case with most of our problems and it should inspire you to know that there are always more resources floating around than there are problems. Learning Spanish couldn’t get any easier than this.

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When Incorrect Spanish Is The Preferred Spanish

The sentence deconstructed here will illustrate Mexican colloquialism, the Spanish preterit conjugation of an irregular verb, and a demonstrative pronoun, all at once. For anyone learning Spanish, deconstructing simple sentences and reviewing them whenever possible is always way better than mugging up lists of Spanish words with their out-of-context meanings. We’ll also see here, how deliberately violating those rules of grammar and using incorrect vocabulary creatively could get you in the league of native speakers quickly. Obviously, there must be some method to this madness otherwise you run the risk of sounding naïve.

The sentence

Let’s see what we got here today; here’s the sentence in question along with its English translation in parentheses:

Todos los meseros fueron a la fiesta del cumple de su capi. (All waiters went to the head waiter’s birthday party.)

Before we begin our reverse engineering with this sentence, let’s stress again the importance of steering clear of rote memorization at all times and at all cost. The concept must soak into you gradually and naturally and be a part of your natural linguistic inventory. Only then can you ever reap any tangible benefit from all the efforts you ever invested in learning Spanish. Let’s start the autopsy now.

The nuts and bolts

Todos – This word, simply put, stands for the English “all”. However, there’s a twist. While the English word exists solely in one universal form regardless of context, todos doesn’t. First things first, todo is masculine while toda is feminine. That one’s a no-brainer but what about todos, then? What can possibly be the singular of “all”? Well, first of all, todo is used only with singular nouns and gives a sense of “whole”. So, toda la clase would mean “the whole class” and todo el mundo, “the whole world”. Now, in the same vein, todos goes with plural nouns and means “all” in the sense of several things or people taken together. For example, todos los libros means “all the books” and todos mis perros means “all my dogs”. Coming back to our sentence, the noun in question is masculine plural and hence takes todos.

los meseros – Los is simple to explain. This Spanish equivalent of the English article, “the”, goes with masculine plurals in situations as dictated by Spanish grammar which is not always the same as those applicable for its English counterpart. Los becomes el when followed by a masculine singular, la when followed by a feminine singular, and las when followed by a feminine plural. Mesero is a waiter so that makes meseros, more than one waiter obviously. Hence, in this sentence, the phrase, todos los meseros (all the waiters) forms the subject.

fueron – We are already familiar with the Spanish verb, ir (to go) and its present indicative conjugations. Well, never mind those heavy-duty, utterly useless, grammatical terms but the only intent behind those names being used here is to ease identification or reference. No need to memorize what they mean. Anyways, what we are seeing here is the form ir takes when used with third person plural subjects in the past tense; more precisely, when the action has been performed only once and completed in the past. Spanish grammar calls this the preterit form. If we were talking about just one waiter, el mesero, the fueron would have reduced to fue. Incidentally, both ir and ser share the same conjugations in their preterite forms; so, while in this sentence fueron means “went”, it might as well mean “were”. Needless to say, it’s the context that dictates which interpretation flies.

Fiesta time!!!
Photo credit: Municipio Piñas licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

a – While the Spanish a can take several interpretations depending on the context, it means “to” in this one. Don’t worry about other meanings as you will get them as and when you come across each of the several idiomatic expressions that use it.

la fiesta – La is the Spanish “the” for feminine nouns and it won’t hurt to believe that most English speakers would be familiar with fiesta. You guessed it right, it’s a “party”!!!

del – De is the Spanish for “of” and el is the Spanish for “the”; whenever the two come together, they become del, the Spanish for “of the”. Note, however, that this contraction only works with singular masculine nouns; de and la never merge, nor do de and los or de and las.

cumple – This is one of those words using which can make the difference between a native speaker and one who has spent months in the classroom learning Spanish. Your dictionary tells you that the Spanish for “birthday” is cumpleaños, which is why, feliz cumpleaños figures among the first few phrases in every dime-store phrasebook. However, cumpleaños becomes cumple in unofficial local lingo and you will obviously sound way more “native” if you use this grammatically incorrect contraction in your speech!

Cumpleaños often becomes cumple in Mexican Spanish
Photo credit: Mario Sánchez Bueno licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

de su capi – De (of) needs no introduction but su does. Su, in this context, stands for “their”; depending on context, it can also mean “her”, “its”, “his”, or even “your” (the polite form). This word takes a singular noun while for plurals, the word becomes sus. Capi is a Mexican slang for captain used in the same way as “cappy” is in English. In this context, it kind of indicates the “head waiter”. The correct word in Spanish, though, is capitán but the incorrect contraction, capi, not found in any dictionary nor approved by any grammar book, is what gets you the ticket to the inner-circle of native speakers! To summarize, de su capi, put together, mean, “of their captain” or, “of their head waiter”.

It would be reasonable to assume that you don’t really need any assistance with the word-order in this relatively straightforward sentence. Still, should there be any confusion stringing these nuts and bolts together, feel free to drop in a comment and we could try to make it a cakewalk for you.

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Fresh Spanish From The Mexican Barrio

The sentence that we are going to dissect today is a typical illustration of how Spanish sounds in the living rooms and the narrow alleys of Mexico. Loaded with not one but two local Mexican Spanish slang words, one of which might as well be the de-facto national expression of the country, it just doesn’t get any more Mexican than this! Other than its rich linguistic content (which is what must matter the most to those learning Spanish), there’s nothing special about this sentence which is neither a witty saying, nor a popular movie line. It is just something off a real conversation between real Mexicans in a real context.

Here’s the sentence in question along with its English meaning in parentheses (not to mention, it only translates the sense and is not a literal translation).

¡Este barrio es un cagadero, güey; es peligroso y asqueroso! (This neighborhood is a shithole, dude; it’s dangerous and disgusting!)

Time to get those knives and scalpels out now. Let’s start the disembowelment now and see if it helps expedite our process of learning Spanish by any degree.

The nuts and bolts

¡Este barrio es un cagadero, güey!
Photo credit: issa licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Este – This is “this” in Spanish. A point to be noted here is that Spanish has different words for guys and girls no matter what we are talking about. So, even when it comes to pronouns like “this” and “that”, there is a male word and a female word in Spanish. Este happens to be for the guys and esta, for girls. And, why did we choose este over esta? Because the word it is pointing at is male. This is a key feature of all Romance languages and while learning Spanish, you must bear in mind that nothing exists without gender.

barrio – This is what made us choose este over esta in this sentence. A barrio roughly translates into a district or neighborhood of a town in a Spanish-speaking country and since it is a male or masculine noun (the -o ending gives it away), it accepts este instead of esta. So, now we easily know that este barrio simply means “this neighborhood”.

es – This is the simple present tense conjugation of the Spanish verb, ser, for a singular, third person, subject. And, I am just hoping we all know what ser means and, more importantly, why we chose ser over estar in this context. Just in case, if you don’t remember, ser is one of the two Spanish words for the English verb, “to be”, the other being estar. Since, we are talking about only one barrio, we use es and not son.

un cagadero – Must I explain here that un is one of the Spanish equivalents for the English article, “a”? Well, un is for the guys and una, for girls. Though, keep in mind that you don’t simply plug in an un wherever English uses “a”. The rules of article usage in Spanish are slightly different from those in English. Now, cagadero is interesting. It literally means any site where you would defecate, such as a lavatory, a john, or even a makeshift hole in the ground in some remote areas. However, in this context, we are using it as a common Mexican slang that means “shithole” in a disparaging tone and not necessarily an actual toilet. So, here, what we are indicating is a rundown neighborhood which the speaker obviously doesn’t find too appealing. Why, the second half of the sentence resolves the mystery.

güey – Here comes the word Mexicans love more than their bean burritos and tequillas! Ok, that might be a hyperbole but it is true that güey is the most frequently heard word in the Mexican world and identifies a Mexican pretty much in the same way as che identifies an Argentinean. And yes, you guessed it right, it just means “dude” in English. If you are learning Spanish as spoken by the Mexicans, you’d be better off making this word your top favorite. Incidentally, there are many other words for “dude” in Mexico but güey happens to trump all in popularity.

es – We have already discussed how ser morphs into es when used with a singular subject in the third person (of course, in the present indicative tense). But where is the subject? This brings us to another key aspect of Spanish which is omission of the subject pronoun unless there is an absolute necessity. Often, the context dictates your interpretation and, trust me, you will hardly make mistakes even if you have just started learning Spanish. Here, since the context already shows that it is “this neighborhood” that is under discussion, this es takes “it” (i.e., “this neighborhood”) as the implied subject.

peligroso – This is “dangerous” in English. Interestingly, it derives from the Latin, perīculum, from where English got its “peril”. My piece of advice for those learning Spanish here, try to dig out the etymology of the word you look up on a dictionary, whenever you do. Often, the word would share a common origin with some familiar equivalent in English and will make retention easier for you. Why? Because Spanish, being a Romance tongue, derives heavily from Latin while English, though essentially a Germanic language (which makes it closer to Dutch and German than to Spanish or Italian), has borrowed more than enough words from Latin!

y – This is the Spanish for “and”. Easy, wasn’t it? remember, though, that this y becomes e when the following word begins with the /i/ sound. Shouldn’t be hard to remember for, if you look closely, this is driven more by speech aesthetics than by mere grammar.

Peligroso y asqueroso
Photo credit: Oisin Prendiville licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

asqueroso – This Spanish word essentially represents the sense of something being unpleasant, loathsome, or disgusting, the magnitude of disgust often being dictated by the context.

Going beyond

Now that we are done interpreting the second half of the sentence, do you finally see why our Mexican friend called this neighborhood a “shithole”? Can you come up with a more apt description for a neighborhood that is both dangerous and repulsive?

We are hoping that playing with this typically Mexican Spanish sentence has loaded you enough to make learning Spanish a breeze. You will do well to start experimenting with your newly acquired Spanish at this stage. Try crafting your own sentences describing things around you and get them reviewed by your Spanish-speaking friends. Doing this is easier than it sounds. Start with modifying sentences that we have dissected from time to time and then gradually move on to more adventurous constructs.

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Kill Frustration With The Language Dojo

Ever wondered why an overwhelming number of Spanish learners end up quitting hardly a few months into their programs? Even better, ever wondered why you felt like quitting learning Spanish out of sheer frustration? Where did that zeal go? Where’s that battle cry you flagged off your Spanish language program with? Today, we’ll extensively talk about a blog that answers just these questions and more! We can comfortably wager that reading the radical, game-changing notes on that blog will change the way you see learning Spanish for good because motivation is everything when it comes to learning anything. Nothing else matters.

We ran into Ramses Oudt on the Internet after extensively reviewing his blog on learning Spanish – any language, for that matter – and stalking him on Facebook. Today, we have become friends of sorts and we could never thank him enough for his infinitely inspiring work, The Language Dojo. We could connect with Ramses on several levels, being fellow webmasters and, more importantly, being fellow linguists who dig Spanish. Our mutual flair for languages meant that Always Spanish had to draw more than a significant amount of inspiration from The Language Dojo. In fact, it’s The Language Dojo that gave us the final kick despite the plans for Always Spanish being in the pipeline for over a year before it actually took shape!

Why do language learners quit?

Now, that we have given you a fair idea of The Language Dojo being an inspiration behing Always Spanish, a little digression is in order here. Actually, let’s revisit our original question – What demotivates someone learning Spanish and what can help one keep that demon at bay? Now, let’s address this question in parts; it’s primarily important that we know what demotivates us. Surprisingly, the answer lies within. Look no further, you are your best counsel! Well, it all boils down to just one thing. There could be a hundred different ways of putting this across but when chopped finely enough, all reasoning and argument essentially reduces down to a single common theme regardless of whether you are learning Spanish or Swahili. That core cause of demotivation is absence of visible results!

Learning Spanish is really this easy!
Photo credit: Mike Burns licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

It’s only human to expect results whenever something new is started. That’s not the problem. The problem starts when your expectations cross that thin red line between what’s reasonable and what’s not. If you start learning Spanish with a goal of speaking like the natives in two months, you are most likely setting yourself up for failure. Have small, realistic goals. Take baby steps. In fits and starts, it’s nature’s honest truth that you’ll get there. As long as you are consistent. There’s no motivation bigger than success and there’s no teacher as effective as self-motivation.

So, higher your success-rate, the better your chances of getting fluent in Spanish or whatever you are learning. And the best way to ensure you succeed more often is by keeping a number of small, successive, and achievable targets. Every time you hit those targets, you’ll feel more charged-up, more empowered, and get a small baby-step closer to your ultimate goal of being native-fluent in Spanish.

What matters most is consistency. even if you can manage to dedicate only 30 minutes of your day to learning Spanish, keep it at that or more everyday. Do not bunk. Even 10 minutes of reps on Anki® is better than no reps at all. Even 10 minutes of watching a Spanish show is better than none at all. Even 10 minutes of reading your favorite comic in Spanish is better than not reading at all. Instead of fretting over how busy you are and how you don’t have time for learning Spanish anymore, think of ways to maximize your effectiveness with whatever time you have at your disposal! Even polyglots who speak a dozen unrelated tongues with native-like fluency (yes, they do exist!) have only 24 hours in their day, just like the rest of us. And most of them have jobs and families to attend to, all the while taking those baby steps toward their goals. Would you assume they would have complained about how little time they had to practice their language skills?

Well, so we have understood the importance of being consistent and keeping small achieveable targets in our language programs. Is there still something we could do to keep our motivation afloat? There, surprisingly, happen to exist some quite commonlace solutions to this problem which is what brings me to our next subject, The Language Dojo.

The Language Dojo

Ramses has been an acquaintance since his Spanish-Only days and, one must confess, he has never ceased to kick learners in the right direction ever since. If one were to summarize the qualities of this blog in one word, it would be, motivation. A casual trip to this blog will show you dozens of articles mostly by Ramses (and sometimes by Matthew, a co-author) that solely strive to keep you motivated in learning Spanish (or Xulu or Korean). What started as a hobby blog for those learning Spanish way back in the spring of 2008 has slowly evolved into a full-fledged self-hosted goldmine of motivating and resourceful articles for those learning just about any language, known by fans simply as TLD.

The best aspect of this blog is Ramses’ radical views on the various language learning methodologies in practice today. Ramses is himself a linguist from The Netherlands whose love affair with languages started when he chose to major in Spanish as a young college student. He has dabbled in several established methodologies, some conventional and others unconventional, while learning Spanish and has drawn heavily from the likes of Antimoon and Dr. Stephen Krashen. It is this assortment of extremely unconventional learning methodologies (read, for example, Input vs. Output) that make TLD an immensely indispensible resource. What motivates you even more is the fact that these methods, while being radically unorthodox, are also extremely easy to implement and it is this ease that makes them motivating (how difficult can watching TV for hours get? What can be harder than just letting a Spanish podcast rattle away in the background while you are cooking?). You start seeing learning Spanish as a more realistically achieveable enterprise when you see the methods are easy and natural and when you see that successes, though in tiny installments, are quick to come by, not to mention, visible.

Another way TLD helps you stay in the game is by offering you a couple of inspiring success stories. Nothing rakes up the adrenaline in us more than a story of someone who has started where we are today and has gone on to get where we aspire to be in a commendable span of time. As humans, we all love role-models. Read, for example, about James’ success with total immersion and tell us if it didn’t inspire you! Such tales of real success achieved by real people like us and unconventional language learning methods have revolutionized our approach to learning Spanish. And it’s our strong belief that you can draw more than just inspiration from this infinitely rich resource.

Have you ever been creative about self-motivation? Got any interesting ideas to help other lesser mortals like us find language learning a more interesting and rewarding experience? Feel free to share your thoughts!

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Let Beyoncé Sing So You Learn The Spanish Adverb, Ya

The Spanish word, ya is notorious for giving immense pain to those learning Spanish even in their third or fourth year. Honestly, most of us have struggled with this word enough to have even quit Spanish for at least a while out of sheer frustration! One particularly exhaustive lesson on About.com is dedicated to this topic and so are hundreds of others elsewhere on the Internet. So, learning is never an issue; the issue is with recalling it when required. Luckily, today, we have a gorgeous teacher just to ensure we never forget the word’s usage rules anymore. If Belanova can help with gustar, Beyoncé can help with ya!

The Child Prodigy

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter
Photo credit: Martin licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Apologies if this sounds like an unfounded assumption but does this chick really need introduction? I mean really? We are talking about the sizzling hot powerhouse of talent who has won more Grammies than most can even begin to wish for! Well, when we are discussing this Southern belle, we are discussing the third most honored and second most nominated woman in Grammy history with 16 wins and 43 nominations as of today (not to mention the total tally of 173 awards and more than 500 nominations)!

Shooting to fame in the late 90s as the lead voice of one of the world’s most successful girl-groups of all times, Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé (also known as Sasha Fierce) has thus far won a Billboard Millennium Award, 12 MTV Video Music Awards, and a star on the Hollywod Walk of Fame with Destiny’s Child.

Irreemplazable

Now that we are pretty sure you are stumped enough with the prodigy’s stellar records, let’s get down to business. We were talking about this particular single that came out in the fall of 2007 as a part of Beyoncé’s first ever EP (extended play). Both the EP as well as the single in question were named Irreemplazable (Irreplaceable) and fared really well on the charts earning a nomination in the 2008 grammy Awards.

This song, written by Beyoncé herself (though Ne-Yo wouldn’t agree), celebrates female empowerment and is about a relationship’s breakdown because of a cheating partner (of course, the man). It is a catchy pop ballad with heavy R&B influences and bears quite a resemblance with those sung by Whitney Houston.

For Spanish learners

So what’s in it for me, the Spanish learner in you should ask by now; besides the soulful lyrics and hum-worthy music, that is. Well, for starters, the 5 occurrences of esta vez should do more than reinforce the Spanish for “this time” for those who were left still wanting by the previous article’s Belanova. Other than that, the song illustrates almost every color of the Spanish adverb, ya, with a good 24 reps! With that many repetitions of just one word in a single song (a karaoke-worthy pop at that), there’s no way you can ever have trouble using and interpreting it smoothly no matter what the context is. Have a look for yourself – Youtube® is teeming with copies of this song’s videos.

As always, here’s a small snippet of the complete lyrics with a broad translation for your reference. Read along and enjoy the music while your mind does all the boring work of remembering what’s useful.

Ya lo ves, ya lo ves (As you already see, as you already see)
Te olvidé, te olvidé (I forgot you, I forgot you)

Ya lo ves, ya lo ves

Ya lo ves, amor, esta vez te olvidé (As you already see, love, this time I forgot you)
En el clóset, en un rincón (In the closet, in the corner)
Están tus cosas, esto se acabó (Are your things, it’s over)
Te juro que no te aguanto más (I swear I won’t take it anymore)
No te quiero ya, ni como amante (I don’t love you anymore, not as a lover)
Esta vez no ganarás, te puedes marchar (This time you won’t win, you can leave)
Y no vuelvas jamás (And don’t ever return)

Y si acaso piensas que esta vez voy a perdonar (And if just in case you think that this time I will forgive)
Ya verás, que nunca más me vuelves a engañar (You’ll surely see, that you’ll no more fool me again)
Ya lárgate (Now go away)

Irreemplazable is not Irreplaceable!

Before we wrap up this article, one strong word of caution: Do not fall for the English version of this song if you are really keen on learning some Spanish. Talented as she is, Beyoncé has done this song in Spanish as well as English and even in Spanglish. While it is very easy to assume that the English version is just the English translation of the original Spanish, in reality it’s not. The lyrics are completely different and the only common factor among the versions is the message of female empowerment and the central theme of a girl dumping her guy after catching him cheating on her.

So in short, what you should ideally do is look for the English translation of this song and not the English version. It is the translation that will teach you Spanish. And even before you look up the translation, we strongly recommend just listening to the original several times, savoring just the music and the essence of her voice. This way, you will get a better hang of what rapid Spanish sounds like and only once you hit a hummable stage with the song, should you start with the translation.

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Vez Or Tiempo? Let This Latin Grammy Winner Teach You

Ever found yourself struggling with the quintessential dilemma every newbie learning Spanish faces at some stage: The choice between vez and tiempo? Both of them, says your dictionary, translate into “time” in English. Well, grammar dictates that vez is to be used when talking about instances or frequency of occurrences (e.g., this time, once, another time, twice, in turn, etc.) while tiempo fills in for all other situations. Fair enough, now how to remember this? Music to your rescue again – Here’s the perfect song to drill this piece of Spanish grammar right into you! The song in question is Por Esta Vez by Belanova.

Belanova

Belanova: Edgar Huerta, Denisse Guerrero, and Richie Arreola
Photo credit: Gozamos licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Belanova is a promising name on the Mexican synthpop scene originating in what is widely accepted to be the cradle of Mexican music and arts, Guadalajara, in 2000. Officially, the band consists of only 3 members: Edgar Huerta on the keyboards, Ricardo “Richie” Arreola on the bass, and the lead vocalist, Denisse Guerrero. However, its live lineup is often attended by several non-member performers, most notably Richo Acosta on the guitar and Israel “Campanita” Ulloa on drums.

Each of the three have their own tales of passion that eventually brought them together. While Paul McCartney was the role model that drove Ritchie toward Belanova, Edgar was accidentally sucked into music after he started playing a keyboard that his brother received as a Christmas present. Denisse, on the other hand was already a member of a band called 40 Grados. While the guys are from Guadalajara, Denisse is originally from Los Mochis in Sinaloa. The three came together in guadalajara when Denisse and Edgar were already working together at a local bar.

A blazing success-story

Though the group has won several prestigious awards and nominated for many more, Fantasía Pop (Fantasy Pop) of 2007 is the album that landed them their first ever Latin Grammy, in 2008. And, more importantly, it is this very album that features the song under discussion here, Por Esta Vez (This time).

This groundbreaking album sold 50,000 copies and got certified Oro (Gold) in Mexico just within the first 3 days of release in the fall of 2007! Furthermore, it went on to hit Platinum in Mexico by the spring of 2008 and made history by recording digital sales numbers that were five times higher than physical sales.

Fantasía Pop made peak positions of #1 on both Mexican Albums Chart and Mexican Latin Albums Chart and #3 on the US Billboard Heatseekers (South Central). In essence, this was the album that made Belanova the household name of today.

Por Esta Vez

As will soon be obvious from the English translation of a snippet of its lyrics below, this song is a treasure trove of vez and the Spanish preterit! It is obviously in the title and then twice in the chorus, not to mention the innumerable reps elsewhere throughout the song. Master these lyrics and take it for granted that you are never ever going to have any problem recalling the situations where vez is to be used (and not tiempo) and recalling at least the first and third person preterite conjugations of some common irregular verbs.

Lo conocí en algún café (I met him in a cafe)

Él me miró, me sonrió (He saw me, he smiled at me)

Me dijo (He said to me)

“Hola, ¿cómo estás?” (“Hi, how are you?”)

Y yo le respondí (And I responded to him)

Le dije “No del todo mal, buen día” (I told him, “Not all bad, good day”)

Por esta vez (This time)

Puede ser de verdad (It may be true)

Podría ser real (It may be real)

Por esta vez (This time)

No tengo qué perder (I don’t have anything to lose)

No hay nada qué temer (There’s nothing to fear)

Lo vi pasar por algún lugar (I saw him pass by at some place)

A eso de las seis (At around 6 o’clock)

Él caminó directo a mí (He walked right up to me)

Me dijo (He said to me)

“Hola, ¿cómo estás?” (“Hi, how are you?”)

Y yo le respondí (And I responded to him)

Le dije “No del todo mal, buen día” (I said to him, “Not all bad, good day”)

Make the most out of this song!

Needless to say, always take these translations with a pinch of salt and enjoy the emotions behind the lyrics if you want to make the most of this activity. As with all lyrics and poetry, literal translation is often impossible given the various literary nuances unique to any organic language like Spanish. These translations are, instead, meant to give you a cue about the sense conveyed by the Spanish lyrics and to give you a head-start in decoding the rest of the song.

Listen to the song, refer to the lyrics, rewind, play over, read along the lyrics, and repeat the process as many times as it takes for the song to become etched in your heart. You must hit a stage where you often catch yourself humming away the song without reading the lyrics off the screen. That’s when you know, the song has served its most vital function, teaching you its share of Spanish grammar.

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Learn Gustar With Luis Fonsi

Not sure about all but quite a few rookie learners have often had a particularly tough time understanding the Spanish verb, gustar, which roughly – only roughly – stands for, “to like”. Well, knowing how to use gustar is no rocket-science and certainly not the hardest aspect of learning Spanish. The hard part is recalling the usage while actually conversing in Spanish. One song by Luis Fonsi appears to have been crafted specifically to address this problem. That’s the thing with Spanish music – it can do much more than just put you on the dance floor. It can simplify linguistic concepts enough to keep you in the groove!

Me gustas!
Photo credit: Yukari* licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

The pain with liking something

It can be a nagging pain in the neck for the average English speaker to understand that while we say, “I like cats,” in English (the straightforward way), we can’t do the same in Spanish where the correct order would be, “Cats please me.”

Well, the problem is that gustar, contrary to most dictionaries and grammar books, does not exactly translate into “like”. It, instead, stands for something similar in sense but slightly different in usage – “to please”. The effect is a swap in the word order and that’s why, “I like cats” becomes, “Cats please me”.

While this is a simple enough explanation, human minds always welcome any amount of musical illustration in order to reinforce such explanations. And while there might not always be a song meant for every grammar point that exists, at least for gustar, there is. We would recommend this song to anyone who is struggling with likes and dislikes in Spanish, not to forget, it’s quite a jingle too! With 17 occurances of this verb in its present indicative first and second person singular conjugations, you can’t go wrong.

Luis Fonsi

Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero, better known as Luis Fonsi, is a Grammy winning singer and composer from Puerto Rico. As a child, his family moved to Orlando where he has been ever since. Fonsi’s affinity with music goes back a long way when he was ten and dreamed of singing with the Latin American boy band, Menudo.

Eventually, Fonsi went on to study music at the Florida State University, join the school’s choir, and sing with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and realize his childhood dream when, in 2005, He was invited to sing at a concert with Ray Reyes, a former Menudo member. This concert was widely labeled by the press (El Vocero, a free Spanish-language newspaper published in San Juan, Puerto Rico) as “Fonsi’s moment as a Menudo”.

Me Gustas Tú

Though Fonsi has to his credit quite a few compositions, it is Me Gustas Tú (I like you) that this article is interested in right now. He composed this number for his album Tierra Firme (Hard Ground) that released in the summer of 2011. While not necessarily a groundbreaking masterpiece, this song uses gustar enough number of times to be immensely important to anyone learning Spanish.

Here’s a portion of the lyrics along with the English translation for you to jump-start your educational listening. We are dissecting only the first 3 stanzas for your reference here but if you really want the complete translation, which we strictly advice against (jog your brains a bit if you wish to truly learn; trust me, it’s fun), there are tons of sites offering the lyrics and translations to this song and many others.

Please note that what’s being provided here is not an absolute literal translation because often, phrases in one language don’t have a literal equivalent in another that conveys the sense precisely as intended. Moreover, one must not strive for literal translations when it comes to songs and poetry anyways.

Me gusta el mar (I like the sea)

porque si lo veo (because if I see it)

pareciera que a veces (it appears that at times)

llega hasta el cielo (it stretches until the sky).

Me gusta soñar (I like dreaming)

con cosas que pueda alcanzar (of things that can reach)

como el viento que me da tu pelo (like the wind that gives me your hair).

Me gusta cantar (I love singing)

no me importa si lo hago bien (doesn’t matter if I do it well)

lo hago mal, lo hago con sentimiento (I do it badly, I do it with emotion)

yo no soy muy así (I am not much like that)

pero algo me pasa contigo (but something happens to me with you)

que me hace gritar lo que siento (that makes me shout what I feel).

The key to productive listening lies in the reps!

No amount of lyrics or translation can convey the essence of this song, or any for that matter, as beautifully as listening to it will. So, do scour through Youtube® for a video of this song and watch it in endless loops once you’re done reading this. Just make sure you loop through the video over and over again several times. The key is in the reps; repeat until you find yourself humming along to its tunes or, even better, singing it off your head in the shower. That's when you can say you have truly assimilated the lyrics and, in turn, the associated vocabulary and grammar. Actually, it is only at this stage when you should consider looking up the translated lyrics. Hasta luego!

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A Nursery Rhyme For The Spanish Reflexive

Kids enjoy learning and so do we. The only difference is while we know we are learning when we are because of all the conscious efforts we are putting in, kids rarely do. How many of you ever realized you were subconsciously absorbing new vocabulary and new grammar rules while you were having fun singing along those innocent-sounding nursery rhymes as kids? To kids, they are little more than fun-filled jingles. To the Spanish learner in us, they are, or at least ought to be, opportunities. And there is no reason why we adults should pass up any such opportunities of learning Spanish especially when they don’t cost a dime.

Nursery rhymes as a learning tools

Se hace de noche
Photo credit: Alex Pearson licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Regardless of the language, nursery rhymes have always been one of the most playful tool for learning complex grammar and otherwise dull vocabulary, enjoyed by kids throughout the world. Incidentally, they also happen to be the only entertaining learning methodology adopted and employed by the academics who are notorious for their ridiculously dead-beat and ineffective learning systems.

This article is dedicated to one such rhyme that has been traditionally sung by and to kids all over the Spanish-speaking universe and enjoyed overwhelmingly. The song is called, Se hace de noche (night is falling or night falls).

Se hace de noche

Se hace de noche is a nursery rhyme in widespread use in every Spanish-speaking country in some form or the other. This cute little poem talks about some spooky things such as vampires, knives, castles, etc. and is often taken as a Halloween song by the Spanish-speakers even though the association wasn’t originally intended. The song opens with the description of nightfall and gets more and more spookier with the thickening plot and the growing suspense as it develops, finally culminating in a silly ending that makes the kids burst out in laughter. The kids just love it for the way an air of suspense builds up only to diffuse in a totally harmless and jovial finale.

This is a zero-calorie story that entertains and teaches without placing any overhead on one’s mind whatsoever. If you can become a kid, you can reinforce the spooky vocabulary with actions, gameplays, funny voices...the possibilities are only limited by your creativity! The rhyme itself is extremely short, one key trait of all nursery rhymes, and helps you painlessly absorb a key grammar concept, the reflexive pronouns. The vocabulary is basic and themed the grammar, light; it has every ingredient to stick to your memory for life with no mental stunts on your part.

The Luis Pescetti version

The most common version is the one by Luis Pescetti who has wonderfully performed it with an echo so you can easily practice along as you can see in the video below.

Here is the rhyme with an English translation for the Spanish learners in you:

Se hace de noche (Night falls),

Se ve un castillo (You see a castle),

Se abre la puerta (A door opens),

Sale un vampiro (A vampire emerges),

¡Toma un cuchillo (He takes a knife)!

yyyyy... (Anddddd...)

Unta pan con mantequilla (Spreads the bread with butter),

Unta pan con mantequilla,

Unta pan con mantequilla.

The harmless witch

There is another version that talks about a witch instead of a vampire and is equally fun to sing although there’s no rhyme scheme in this one. This one has an even simpler vocabulary and is good for those who want to add a little Mexican touch to their Spanish. It goes:

La bruja
Photo credit: Lee Haywood licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Se hace de noche (Night falls),

Sale la bruja (Emerges the witch),

Volando en su escoba (Flying on her broomstick),

Llega a su casa (She arrives at her house),

Entra a la cocina (She enters the kitchen),

¡Saca un cuchillo (She draws a knife)!

yyyyy...

Y le unta mantequilla a su bolillo (And spreads butter on her bread),

Y le unta mantequilla a su bolillo,

Y le unta mantequilla a su bolillo.

All the culture in a piece of bread

One culturally interesting thing to note in the second rhyme above is the word, bolillo. It is actually a very Mexican word and you must know what it is if you aspire to become an authority on Mexican culture. It’s a type of savory bread often made of sourdough originating in Mexico and traditionally baked in an horno de piedra (stone oven).

They are known by various local names throughout Mexico, such as bolillos and pan blanco in the north, pan francés in the northeast, barras in the Yucatán, torcido and birote in Sinaloa, and birotes also in Sonora and Guadalajara.

The version from Chile

Coming back to the rhyme, Chile has its own variation that is equally enjoyable if your heart is closer to Chile than Mexico. This one goes:

Son las doce de la noche (It’s twelve o’clock in the night),

La hora más horripilante (The gruesome hour),

Sale un monsturo (Emerges a monster),

¡Peludo con un cuchillo filudo (Hairy with a sharp knife)!

yyyyy...

Le echa mantequilla al pan (He puts butter on bread),

Le echa mantequilla al pan,

Le echa mantequilla al pan.

No matter which version you choose, we bet you will have a tough time trying to get rid of the Spanish you absorb from them. Give it a shot!

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2 Songs To Learn Those Pesky Stem-Changers

If you always hear puedo (the present tense first person singular form of poder) whenever the context is “I can”, you will have to actually try hard to come up with an incorrect podo while speaking. This is the self-correcting trait of any matured language seasoned over time like Spanish. Given the right amount of input, your Spanish can correct itself without you depending on some complicated grammatical label, such as “stem-changing verb”, and help you produce more accurate sentences spontaneously without any mental editing each time you speak. And what source can get fill you with more Spanish language than Latino music?

Latino music is the best Spanish teacher!
Photo credit: Ramón Peco licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Since we already know music is one of the most entertaining language teacher, let’s see how a couple of catchy Spanish songs can be employed to drive home one of the most annoying aspects of Spanish grammar, the conjugation of stem-changing verbs. Songs, especially the popular ones that are played almost everywhere you go, once heard even casually have this wonderful property of sticking to memory for longer than anything else.

Even annoying songs are easy to remember

How many times have you caught yourself humming your favorite jingle in the shower unaware? Even the most irritating song that you hate from your guts can do the same thing equally efficiently! All that matters is that the jingle should be catchy, regardless of whether you like it or hate it. It should stir up your emotions and if it can, it creeps into your head with literally no effort whatsoever. No flashcards, no reps, no cramming, no work! Then why not capitalize on this wonderful property of music to absorb some Spanish effortlessly?

One truly irritating aspect of Spanish grammar that tends to demotivate most beginners is he conjugation of a special class of verbs grammatically known as “stem-changing verbs”. This post discusses two songs rich in this class of verbs with enough repititions to make them a part of your life once you listen to them even twice!

Hace Tiempo

This single was a part of the album, Corazón, released in 2005 by the Colombian singer, Juan Fernanco Fonseca. Corazón is the album that brought Fonseca his Latin Grammy in 2006 and was one of the biggest hits of the season. Tener (to have), poder (can), querer (to want), sentir (to feel), morir (to die)...this song has it all. You have plenty of stem-changing bugs in their present tense conjugation to play with.

This song is also an excellent resource illustrating the usage of hace with a time-phrase to talk about how long something has been taking place. The song makes this otherwise complicated grammar simpler than cake-walk! With so many stem-changers and one important rule of grammar, this song is a must-have for all beginners struggling to memorize the conjugations of these verbs. Check out a snippet of this wonderful number along with the English translation below:

Tengo un corazon que se levanta tempranito, (I have a heart that wakes up very early,)
Diariamente a preguntarme por tu piel, (On a daily basis to ask me about your skin,)
Sangra porque no te puedo ver, (It bleeds because I cannot see you,)
Sangra porque no te puedo ver. (It bleeds because I cannot see you.)

Me levanto y rezo, pero ya me estoy cansando (I wake up and pray, because I am growing weary)
Porque el santo creo que esta quedando mal (Because I think the saint isn’t living up to his end of the bargain)
Rezo porque no te puedo ver, (I pray because I cannot see you,)
Rezo porque no te puedo ver. (I pray because I cannot see you.)
Rezo porque no te puedo ver. (I pray because I cannot see you.)

Hace tiempo que te digo que yo siento que me muero, (For a while now, I’ve been telling you that I feel like I'm dying,)
No es tan facil vivir lejos de la mujer que yo quiero. (It’s not so easy living apart from the woman I love.)
Aun me queda tu recuerdo, enmarcado entre tu espejo, (Your memory lingers, framed within your mirror,)
De mañana me levanto y rezo a Dios que no estes lejos. (Of tomorrow I wake up and pray to God that you’re not far away.)

Siempre llego a casa derecho de la parranda (I always get home straight from being out and about)
Y es por ti que siempre veo el amanecer, (And because of you, I always see the sun rise,)
Vuelve que me voy a enloquecer, (Come back because I’m going crazy,)
Yo solo quiero hacerte entender. (I only want to make you understand.)

Pasos de Gigante

Bacilos was a Miami-based Latin-pop band active between 1995 and 2007 with several hits on the Billboard Latin charts and notable success in the Latin Grammies. Their first single, Pasos de Gigante, from their Grammy-nominated album, Sin Vergüenza hit #1 in Argentina, #2 in Chile, and made top ten on Billboard’s Latin singles charts in 2004.

This hit single is a treasure trove of stem-changers with 9 instances of puedo in the first stanza alone. Other than that, you have puedes elsewhere and others like siento and pienso hammered repeatedly in the chorus. What better way to hardwire these hard-to-memorize conjugations to your brain! Entertaining, enriching, and above all, effortless. Acquiring Spanish doesn’t get any easier. To get you started, here’s an excerpt from the complete lyrics along with a rough English translation:

No puedo reír (I can’t laugh)
No puedo llorar. (I can’t cry.)
No puedo dejarte de recordar (I can’t stop remembering you)
No puedo decirte nada que tu no sepas. (I can’t tell you anything that you don't know.)
Tan solo puedo quedarme como un idiota (I can only stay here like an idiot)
Pensando en cosas que me provoca (Thinking about things I want)
Hacer contigo en islas perdidas. (To do with you on lost islands.)

No puedo gritar (I can’t cry)
No puedo exigir. (I can’t demand.)
No puedo contarte lo que sentí, (I can’t tell you how I felt,)
No puedo decirte nada, tu estas tan lejos. (I can’t tell you anything, you’re too far away.)
Y tu que no sabes nada y lo sabes todo, (And you know nothing and you know it all,)
Que me derrites de tantos modos. (That you melt me in so many ways.)
Dime pa’ donde vas con mi vida... (Tell me where you are going with my life…)

Carito el corazón (Carito the heart)
Me queda grande. (Is big for me.)
Cuando yo pienso en ti, yo siento pasos de gigante. (When I think about you, I feel giant’s steps.)
Carito esta canción, (carito this song,)
Es importante (Is important)
Porque cuando la canto yo juro que estas ahí delante (Because when I sing it, I swear you’re before me)
Porque cuando la canto yo juro que estas ahí delante. (Because when I sing it, I swear you’re before me.)

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